Google Maps can now choose the most efficient route for electric vehicles

Google Maps has long indicated “green”routes. If you have a gasoline-powered car, the logic is that the “smoothest”ride with the fewest stops and starts will have the best fuel efficiency. But what if you don’t have a gas guzzler? Electric vehicles consume the least power in the opposite situation: driving with frequent stops at low speed.

The latest Google Maps feature will allow you to select your car’s engine type with Gas, Diesel, Electric and Hybrid available as options for eco route planning. Google says the feature will roll out to the US, Europe, and Canada “in the coming weeks.”Starting today, Europe is also trying Google Maps eco-routing for the first time.

Google says choosing an engine type will allow it to “get the best route and most accurate fuel or energy efficiency estimates.”The company states that “this technology was made possible by information from the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and data from the European Environment Agency. By correlating this information with Google Maps traffic trends, we were able to develop advanced machine learning models trained on the most popular engine types in a given region.”

Once you do receive an update, on the route preview screen, tap the menu button in the top right corner and then select Route Options. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see an “engine type”option, and you can also select “prefer economical routes”if you want the greenest route to always be the default. If you are in a hurry, the fastest route is still available on the route preview screen and is still the default.

Image in Google listing